Tag Archives: Mark Dayton

MinnPost Gives Nod to MNA Nurses’ Efforts

19 Apr

Some nice recognition in MinnPost this week of the key work MNA RNs and other health care workers did behind the scenes to help this important legislation pass!

Here’s the item: 

Intentional abuse or neglect of a vulnerable adult can be charged as a felony in Minnesota, now that Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill passed with bipartisan support.

Previously, such crimes often perpetrated against elderly victims were treated at most as gross misdemeanors with no prison time.

With all the highly charged partisan activity abounding in this year’s session, the governor made a big point of stressing that both Republicans and DFLers voted for the bill, and he appeared with a bipartisan group at the official signing.

Reports of caregivers depriving a vulnerable adult of food, shelter, supervision, clothing or health care led to the legislative efforts.

Lawmakers worked with health care workers and the nurses union to craft the law. A blog from the Minnesota Nurses Association said:

The compromise was an effort between all parties to protect the rights of workers in cases of understaffing, while giving the county attorney the right to charge someone who intends to neglect a vulnerable adult with a felony as opposed to a gross misdemeanor.

The bill signed by Dayton also increases penalties for those who use restraints to harm a child. It was included in the bill following reports of a case where a child was chained to a bed every night, but the parents could only be charged with a misdemeanor.

Gov. Mark Dayton’s Budget – Hearing on Wednesday

12 Apr

Support Governor Dayton’s plan to make the rich pay their fair share
Republicans in control of the Minnesota Legislature have passed budgets that will increase property taxes on middle class families, reduce vital services like snowplowing and police protection, kick vulnerable people off health care, and put tens of thousands more Minnesotans out of work.

On Wednesday morning, we have an opportunity to show them there is a better way.  The House Taxes Committee will hear Governor Dayton’s plan to protect working families. Under his plan, 95% of Minnesotans won’t see their taxes increase by even a penny. His plan will invest in creating jobs and preserve the vital services we all depend on. It does this by asking the richest Minnesotans and big corporations to pay the same tax rate they paid during the 1990s.

We need you to pack the committee hearing room to show legislators you support a budget that protects the middle class. If you are able, please join other working Minnesotans for the hearing on Wednesday at 10:15 am in Room 200 of the State Office Building in St. Paul. (If you’re interested in carpooling, please contact Geri Katz at geri.katz@mnnurses.org.)

If you can’t make it to St. Paul, please use the MNA Grassroots Action Center to tell your state representative and state senator to support Governor Dayton’s plan to make the wealthiest pay their fair share, and stop attacking the working class.

Press Release: MNA RNs Applaud Gov. Dayton’s Executive Order on HMOs

23 Mar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: John Nemo (651-414-2863)

ST. PAUL (March 23, 2011) – Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association were quick to applaud Gov. Mark Dayton’s Executive Order Wednesday that will require full public disclosure from HMOs and health insurance plans on profits they make from state health care services they are contracted to provide.

“For too long, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s administration looked the other way when it came to these HMOs, and as a result these corporate executives were making massive profits off our taxpayer dollars while our patients suffered,” said MNA Vice President Eileen Weber, RN. “Thanks to Governor Dayton, we’re finally going to start getting some definitive answers to what has become a $3 billion question.”

HMOs and health insurance plans receive $3 billion in taxpayer funds per budget cycle to provide state health care services. MNA Nurses joined former Minnesota Hospital Association Attorney David Feinwachs and others in late 2010 to begin blowing the whistle on the disturbing lack of transparency and accountability involved in these contracts.

“Until Governor Dayton stepped in, we had no clear cut way of knowing how much of that $3 billion was actually being spent on direct patient care versus how much these corporate executives were simply putting into their pockets,’” Weber said. “While we strongly support completely removing private corporate middlemen from public health care programs, this is a move in the right direction.”

Dayton’s Executive Order will require regular audits of the health plans and demand full public disclosure of the profits, reserves and administrative expenses of state contracted health care providers. In addition, it calls for a competitive bidding process that invites providers to develop new ways to cover people by focusing on outcomes and working directly with patients.

“As nurses on the front lines, we are thrilled to finally have a Governor in place who puts the well-being of our patients ahead of corporate profits,” Weber said. “And as taxpayers burdened with a $5 billion budget deficit thanks to the failed policies of the Tim Pawlenty administration, we’re grateful Governor Dayton is making sure our tax dollars are being spent and accounted for in a fair and transparent manner.”

Formed in 1905, the Minnesota Nurses Association represents 20,000 members in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. It is also a founding member of National Nurses United, which represents 170,000 RNs across the United States.

MNA Response to Gov. Mark Dayton’s Budget Proposal

15 Feb

“Speaking on behalf of the 20,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association, I want to say that Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposed budget is a fair, responsible and balanced approach to solving our state’s financial woes,” said MNA President Linda Hamilton. “The failed policies of the past eight years under former Gov. Tim Pawlenty have left us with a $6.2 billion deficit, and it will take honest leadership to get us out of this mess. I think Gov. Dayton’s budget proposal demonstrates the political courage and guidance that we need to move Minnesota forward.”

MNA RNs Help Champion Historic Healthcare Expansion

5 Jan

MNA RN Gen DuPlessis, right, watches Gov. Mark Dayton opt-in to MA expansion.

ST. PAUL (January 5, 2011) – Minnesota Nurses such as Gen DuPlessis helped champion a historic healthcare achievement for the state’s poorest and neediest citizens. On January 5, 2011, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed paperwork officially allowing the state to opt-in to Federal Medical Assistance (MA) funds that will provide healthcare for nearly 95,000 Minnesota residents that are unable to obtain healthcare coverage on their own. Watch the video below to learn more.

In addition, Sarah Anderson, whose brother’s heartbreaking story was featured by MNA earlier this winter, was also invited to speak by Governor Dayton. MNA helped tell Sarah’s story in the video below.

MNA Statement on Mark Dayton and Tom Emmer

8 Dec

As Mark Dayton’s path is cleared to be Minnesota’s next governor, the Minnesota Nurses Association looks forward to working with his administration in the next four years.  MNA’s members eagerly support Governor-Elect Dayton as he faces a difficult burden of solving the state’s budget deficit while maintaining a safety net for Minnesota’s most vulnerable population.  MNA President, Linda Hamilton, RN stated, “As health care providers, one of MNA’s highest priorities is making sure that Minnesota accepts the federal Medical Assistance expansion and the $1.4 billion that comes with it.”

MNA applauds the professional manner in which Representative Tom Emmer conducted himself during the gubernatorial recount and in today’s concession speech.  Local and state election officials carried out the recount in a thorough, accurate and timely manner, once again demonstrating that Minnesota is a model for fair elections.

Mark Dayton Speaks to MNA RNs in Duluth

19 Oct

MNA Statement Regarding MHA’s Endorsement of Tom Horner for Governor

14 Oct

Statement from the Minnesota Nurses Association:
We are not surprised that another one of Tom Horner’s former PR clients (the Minnesota Hospital Association) has come forward to endorse him. The Minnesota Nurses Association continues to call upon Tom Horner to release his entire list of former PR clients, many of whom he has had decades-long relationships with – including the Twin Cities Hospitals. Speaking of which, it was Mr. Horner who masterminded the Hospitals’ anti-nurse PR campaign this summer, one that painted RNs as overly emotional, greedy and irrational workers.

By continuing to keep his former PR client list private, Mr. Horner gives off the impression that he plans on being loyal to the people who made him rich rather than the working families of Minnesota. In the meantime, the Minnesota Nurses Association continues to proudly stand behind Mark Dayton, who has the best interests of working men and women – including the nurses of Minnesota – at heart.

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